


Devil's Advocate

by MudkipzUniverse



Series: Purgatory [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: BLU Pyro OC, Canon-Typical Violence, Classic Medic OC, F/M, I Apologize To Any Native Speakers Of Any Language That Isn't English In Advance, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Probably ooc, RED Pyro OC, Slowest Burn In The West, it's my fic i do what i want, various other ocs - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:14:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29021031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MudkipzUniverse/pseuds/MudkipzUniverse
Summary: After being forced into an arranged engagement with a man forty years her senior, Anastasia flees her home country of Italy to find asylum in America. After a chance meeting with a mysterious woman in purple, she is thrust into the Gravel Wars as REDs new Pyro.Now faced with the ordeal of choosing to keep her cover or to foster the growing bonds with her teammates, will she choose to lay low and move on or to take a chance on the eight men of Teufort and gain the family she has always longed for?
Relationships: Demoman/Engineer (Team Fortress 2), Heavy/Medic (Team Fortress 2), Pyro/Scout (Team Fortress 2), Sniper/Spy (Team Fortress 2), Soldier/Zhanna (Team Fortress 2)
Series: Purgatory [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2129037
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. A Better Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> A full re-write of my discontinued FlashFire fic Passione Ardente. Now with new and improved: Writing! OCs! Arcs! A Semi-Frequent Update Schedule (maybe)!
> 
> I really love this stupid hat simulator and it's stupid little characters, so its about time I did them some justice.
> 
> Full Disclosure: I don't write smut, I have tried in the past and I get two words in and I get embarrassed and erase it. There may be some mild making out but any sexual content will be a fade to black with implications afterwards. Maybe someday I'll get the courage I need to write about two characters banging for sixteen paragraphs, until then I'll do my best to make sure it's not missed. ;)
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> On to the fic!
> 
> (oh, fyi, there will be trigger warnings before each chapter, if there isn't a warning then the chapter is clean. if anybody sees any triggers i missed, feel free to tell me and i'll add them)

Life is very strange. One moment, you can be on top of the world, where you reign supreme and nothing could ever hurt you. The next, you fall. Doomed to crash into the frigid pool of dashed hopes and broken dreams. One little moment is really all it takes. Of course, she would know that better than anyone right now. The woman on the bed, if you can call a busted mattress a bed, that is. The woman who was just a few short months ago the heir to the most powerful mafia in Italy, possibly the world, was now fighting for her life in a dingy apartment in Queens. She had been there for six months at this point, surviving on as little as she could to make the most out of her stolen cash. She would need to get another job soon, bussing tables was not going to cut it at this point. Her rent was due in three days and after that she would be out of money. She had not eaten in a few days, rationing her food out as far as it would go. Canned meats and vegetables were her life now, on a good day she might catch the baker down the street right as he was throwing out old loaves of bread and buy the lot off him. That was the only way she could afford it after all.

The woman sighed a hoisted herself up, leaning over to grab her prosthetic. She had lost her right leg in an explosion. She was lucky she didn't loose her life, but her Auntie was skilled enough to fix up everything that was wrong. Well, mostly everything. Her leg was beyond saving at that point. The prosthetic was very high quality, her Auntie had many friends in high places, and one of them just happened to be a highly skilled engineer. She was back on her feet a mere few months after the explosion, and she would say she was even better off than she was before. After snuggly securing her "leg" to her, she got up fully and clothed herself. After scraping the remains of a jar of deviled ham she had in the back of her busted fridge onto her last good slice of bread, she ate in silence and then left, securely locking up her apartment before jogging down the stairs of the building. She was dressed nice, well as nice as she could be, and was on a mission to find another job that hopefully wouldn't overlap with her current one. She knew if it came down to it, she was pretty enough to make a living in a less family friendly field of work. Her tanned complexion had granted her looks from men nearly every time she went outside, her golden hair was the envy of most ladies her age, her eyes were the color of the ocean on a stormy day according to her lover. Ah yes, him.

She had been in the middle of a particular wonderful fling with the son of a rival mafia when the arrangement had happened. After confiding in him he volunteered to get her out of the country, and for them to rendezvous at the apartment she had been living in for the better half of the last year. He had not arrived, he had not even sent a letter. He was either dead, or he abandoned her, for his sake she hoped he was dead because if she found out he had abandoned her here in this godforsaken country she would simply have to kill him. She would not enjoy it, but it would be the only means of getting anything worthwhile out of his stupid plan. At least then she would have a half-decent excuse to have fled when her father eventually finds out where she has been hiding. She could dwell on that later, for now she ducked into the nearest shop. It was a very modest weapons store, nothing fancy, just a few shoddy knives and some handguns were sold there. Hopefully they had something for her to do that would pay decently. She decided to stroll around, as to not look _too_ desperate. 

She had spend about ten minutes looking over the various different firearms when she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Excuse me, do you happen to know if this shop carries 12-gauge shotgun shells?", she looked at the person who had tapped on her shoulder. She was small and thin, with a well groomed bun of black hair and a tired expression. Her glasses were slightly crooked and her violet dress was partially wrinkled. "I am not sure, I have only been in here a few times. You best bet would probably be the back of the store, that is where they keep their more dangerous products", the woman nodded coolly and made her way to the back of the store. She could hear her digging through something, and her inevitable sigh of frustration when she could not find what she was looking for. "Nothing?", she asked, the woman turned to her and shook her head, "Nothing". "Of course you could always try the hunting shop a few blocks from here, I have never been there myself but they might have what your looking for", she says, trying to sound as nice as possible. Just in case.

"I already went in there, and the shop down the street from that, and the one in Brooklyn", the woman pushed up her glasses and sighed. "How many would you need, hypothetically?", the woman looked up, "Are..are you offering to sell me some?", she shrugged her shoulders, wrinkling her blouse slightly. "I have a few boxes at my apartment, but I sold my gun months ago to make rent, I don't need them", the woman cocked her head slightly and then sighed again, "Alright, I'll take them" "Cool, follow me, we'll discuss the price when we get to my apartment. It's not too far, just up the street", and with that, both women left the store and made their way back to her apartment building.

Once inside, the lighter haired of the two walked over to the modest closet she had next to her mattress. "I've got fifty full boxes" "Fifty? Why do you have so many?", she shrugged, "I like knowing I have backups". The woman walked over to examine the boxes and after judging that the contents we adequate, offered two hundred dollars for the whole lot. "Yeah, that'll get me through this months rent at least", the blonde dragged an empty cardboard box out of the closet for the other woman to set the shells into. "So, do you have experience shooting?", the dark haired woman asked, "Yep, back home I used to do it for money, but there aren't a whole lot of jobs like that around here if you catch my drift", the other woman nodded, "And if there were? Would you be open to taking one of those jobs?", the blonde looked up, shocked. "Are you offering?", the dark haired woman once again pushed up her glasses, "Yes, I am". "I work for a company that is in a...precarious position at the moment, there is an ongoing battle between two brothers over a plot of land and my company profits off of selling weapons to be used in that battle", she walked over to the blonde's only chair in the apartment and sat down. "However one of the sides fighting in this battle is down a combatant, I was wondering if you would like to take that position?", the blonde looked at her and brushed some wayward hair out of her face, "What kind of position?". "To be blunt, your job would entail the usage of flamethrowers and other highly flammable weapons to kill those on the opposing side, does that sound good?" "Well, sure, but how much are we talking pay wise?", she raised her eyebrow, she hoped for at least a decent living wage, but at this point she would do it for free as long as she was provided housing. "Five million a year as long as you are signed onto a contract", the blondes jaw dropped, five _million_?! "So I just sign on to your contract and kill people? Count me in!", the darker haired woman chuckled, "Well then, if you would help me load this box into my car, we can get to the paperwork afterwards. Sound good?" "That sounds fantastic miss-?", the woman smiled and stood from her chair, extending her hand, "Pauling. Now, if you'll just help me with the box, these shells aren't going to move themselves".


	2. That Tomorrow Is Today

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fresh of the train that had delivered her into the heart of the New Mexican Badlands, Anastasia is alight with nerves and excitement of just what her current job has in store for her. She soon realizes she may have bit of more than she could chew...

It had been about a month since she signed herself onto the contract Miss Pauling had given her. Of course the job wasn't anywhere near local, not that she minded, so she packed up the few things she had left in her apartment that she refused to sell and boarded a train out of Grand Central a few weeks prior. After a few overnight stays in some less than reputable looking motels and an incident involving her tickets being stolen that set her back a few days, she had finally arrived. Miss Pauling had informed her that she would be stationed somewhere named 2Fort which was a few miles out into the desert. After hauling herself and her luggage out of the station of the city she had arrived in, ironically named Teufort, she was picked up by a car and escorted to the hotel she would be staying at for the night. 

Thankfully this establishment was far nicer than anywhere she had stayed in the months prior, including her apartment, so she checked in and took the elevator up to her room. Once inside, she could see a note waiting for her on the bedside table, Miss Pauling had informed her with a short phone call earlier that week that she would be unable to meet her there in person, but had prepared a list with everything she would need to know. There was also a trunk that sat upon the bed, she figured that it must be her uniform. Setting down her luggage she strode over to the note and picked it up. " _I apologize for not being able to meet you here in person, something urgent has come up so I won't be available until a week after you arrive. This note contains everything you need to know about your new position and an itemized list of everything that should be inside the trunk on the bed. First of all, you will be working at RED and filling in the position of the Pyro. Your job is to maintain the offensive pressure on the opposing force at BLU. The trunk on the bed contains your uniform, a flame retardant suit, a pair of combat boots, a gas mask, and gloves. If any of these items are missing, inform me immediately using the number at the bottom of the note. Do not use it for any other purpose._ ", the note went on for a few more paragraphs about her obligations and regulations and how she would be stationed with eight other combatants during her employment at RED. After she was done reading, she checked the contents of the trunk and tried them on. After making sure they fit she took out the lighter from the nightstand and burned the note in the bathroom sink as she had been instructed to do.

The suit itself was a little loose, but everything else fit fine. The best part was that there was no conceivable way anyone would be able to tell who she was or even _what_ she was under the suit. The only identifiable thing about her was her height, as even her voice was obstructed from behind the masks filter. Most of her nerves dissolved after assuring herself that nobody would ever be able to recognize her through the crimson rubber. It was fairly easy to move around in, but she wouldn't be winning any marathons in those boots. After placing everything back into the trunk the way she found it, she settled down into bed to sleep. She would be introduced to her co-workers tomorrow, she couldn't wait to find out what kind of battle hardened monsters she would be working with.

She woke up bright and early the next morning, ordered her first hot meal in months and wolfed it down. After donning her uniform she packed up everything and headed out of the hotel. She would be escorted to 2Fort in a company truck so all she had to do was wait. Thirty minutes later than the time she had been told she would be picked up, the truck arrived. It was worn down and full of various bullet holes, she put her things in the back and climbed into the passenger seat and buckled herself in. "Heya pally, you're the new Pyro huh?", she turned to the driver, who looked like he was barley out of his teens and nodded. "Yeah, I figured by the suit, the guys are real excited to meet ya! We've been on furlough for months, the higher-ups says we aren't allowed to fight when we're down a man.", she turned to him again, did he just say _we've_? There's no way this kid was one of her co-workers, maybe he was their errand boy or something. She was a highly skilled professional killer! An assassin with no equal! This kid looked like he got rejected by his school's sports team! On top of all that, he was still talking! Yammering on about this and that with no end!

After sitting through an entire hour of her driver talking _non-stop_ , they arrived at their destination. She practically threw herself out of the truck, eager to get away from the skinny chatterbox as soon as possible. "Aw man! you're real excited huh? Here, lemme get your stuff for ya!", he opened the back but she shook her head at him, she didn't think she could stand him talking for another second. "Really? Ok pally, suit yourself!", he shrugged and ran off towards the building, and she sighed a breath of relief. Finally, some quiet. Quiet that lasted for less than two minutes, as she was about to enter the building, the door to the garage swung open, revealing a tall, broad, and muscular man who locked eyes with her and immediately started screaming, "WELCOME TO THE BASE MAGGOT!", he practically dove out of the doorway and marched up to her. He slapped her on the back, which nearly sent her slamming into the side of the truck. "It's good to have you on base son! We haven't had a battle in weeks and let me tell you how much of that time I spent resting!", she didn't even have time to look at him before he started up again, "NONE! ZIP! NADA! ZERO! That's the mark of a _true_ American! Always on your guard! Ready for your enemy to attack at any time!", she was wondering if she had gotten into the wrong truck. There was no way, _no way_ that these men were the deadly killers Miss Pauling had described her co-workers as. She frantically motioned to the door and her luggage, which made the tall man stop in his self-aggrandizing for a moment. "Oh! Of course son! Carry on!", and with that he crashed back into the building, leaving her alone again. 

She quickly grabbed her luggage and went into the building. If she could just make it to her room, then hopefully she could try and make sense of what exactly she signed up for. She walked down the hall and into a large living room-esque area. She was about to venture down another hall when she was tapped on the shoulder. She nearly stumbled as she turned around, fully expecting the tall man from before to try and insist that he carry her luggage, as he was clearly the stronger of the two, but no. A smaller man stood before her, clad in a hardhat and overalls, looking at her with an expression that she could only assume was understanding. "Howdy, you must be our new Pyro!", he extended a gloved hand, which she took, "I'm the Engineer, that tall fella you just met was the Solider. He's a bit loud but he'll calm down after a while, he's just excited at the prospect of fightn' again", she nodded at him, relieved that at least _someone_ she would be working with had some volume control. "You must be wonderin' where your room is? Well now, follow me, it's just down the hall here.", she followed the Engineer down the aforementioned hallway, it took them a good couple of minutes to get to her room. She had two neighbors who were a bit of a distance further down the hall, but as it was she was pretty far away from any public living spaces. "Well, here we are! Take all the time you need gettin' settled, but be sure to be back in the kitchen by six, that's when we'll be sittin' down to eat.", and with that and a quick pat on the shoulder, he disappeared back down the hallway from which they came. She entered the room and closed the door behind her, making sure to lock it before taking her mask off. After getting all of her belonging put away in their proper places, she collapsed onto her bed. Content to lie there in the relative quiet, as she could just barley make out the Soldier's hollering from down the hall.


End file.
